Written Answers Nos. 77-83
77. Deputy Joan Collins asked the Minister for Social Protection if she has received the equality budgeting check that was promised when she introduced the budget proposals; if she will present them; if she has received same, and if not, when she expects to receive same. [51120/13]
View answerMy Department is currently preparing an analysis of the Budget 2014 tax and welfare packages. This Social Impact Assessment will include an analysis of the distributive and poverty impacts of these changes on different family types as well as the impact on at risk of poverty levels. Social impact assessment is an evidence-based methodology which uses a tax/welfare simulation model developed by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) to estimate the likely distributive effects of budgetary measures on income and social inequalities.
I understand that my officials are liaising with the ESRI at present in relation to some technical modelling issues in order to ensure that the analysis captures as many of the main taxation measures announced in the recent Budget as is feasible. I will be examining the analysis when it is finalised and I will publish it in due course.
78. Deputy Jack Wall asked the Minister for Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 99 of 21 November 2013, if the request for a breakdown of the payments indicating the overpayment will be supplied, as the person contends that all payments due were recouped by her Department on each occasion that they absented themselves from their employment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51122/13]
View answerThe detail requested by the Deputy cannot be prepared in the time available. It will be provided directly to the officer concerned in due course.
79. Deputy John Halligan asked the Minister for Social Protection when local government employees reach the age of 65 and are required to retire and make application to her Department for jobseeker's allowance, if the obligation to make themselves available for work will be strictly imposed; if these persons will be means tested as per the usual procedure after the allotted nine months or so on the payment; her views on whether this is an economic use of funding; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51151/13]
View answerWhere individuals exit the workforce prior to pension age they may seek the support of either the jobseeker’s benefit or jobseeker’s allowance schemes. Jobseeker's benefit is a weekly payment to people out of work and covered by social insurance. If a person does not qualify for jobseeker’s benefit they may qualify for means tested jobseeker's allowance. The Revised Estimates for my Department provides for expenditure on the jobseeker’s schemes of €3.66 billion in 2013.
Legislation provides that a person must satisfy the conditions of being available for and genuinely seeking work in order to be entitled to jobseeker’s benefit or jobseeker’s allowance. Any person who fails to satisfy these conditions is not entitled to a jobseeker’s payment. In most circumstances persons leaving local Government employment at age 65 will claim jobseeker’s benefit. It is provided that, subject to the person having paid 156 or more qualifying contributions and satisfying the general scheme conditions, a person whose jobseeker’s benefit expires in their 65th year will continue to be paid benefit up until the age of 66. On this basis, workers who suffer a substantial loss of employment at age 65 will generally be able to claim jobseeker’s benefit for the full year to age 66 provided they have paid at least 156 qualifying contributions.
In addition, people in receipt of a jobseeker's payment must engage with the Department's activation measures and can face sanctions if they fail to do so. From January 2014, these criteria will be eased for people aged 62 and over. They will still be able to avail voluntarily of an array of supports, which are available from the Department if they wish to return to work, training or education. However, sanctions will not be applied to this cohort, should they decide they do not wish to engage with the activation process.
Special arrangements will also be made so that the majority of older people in receipt of a jobseeker’s payment will have to register with their local office only once a year and their payments will be paid directly into their bank accounts. These provisions will enable these individuals to ease their transition into one of the jobseeker’s schemes until they become eligible for a State pension on their 66th birthday. Issues relating to the terms of employment of local Government employees are matters for my colleagues the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government and the Minister for Public Expenditure in the first instance.
80. Deputy Jerry Buttimer asked the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding accommodating the re-training needs of a person (details supplied) in County Cork; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51168/13]
View answerThe Department of Social Protection together with the Department of Education and Skills provides a range of supports to enable jobseekers to pursue educational, training and development opportunities. Of the measures open to the Department of Social Protection, the Training & Education Support Grant and the Technical Assistance Training Scheme provide cash resources to a jobseeker to pursue local opportunities. The value of grants under these schemes does not exceed €1,000 per customer annually. Funding of the level sought is not provided for under these grant schemes. While training opportunities may be availed of abroad, concerns arise around the maintenance of underlying eligibility for jobseekers payment.
81. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Social Protection the reason a notice of assessment is not sufficient to assess a person's entitlement to full-rate qualified adult allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51172/13]
View answerIn order to consider the award of a qualified adult allowance a deciding officer must satisfy themselves as to the current income of that person. Where the qualified adult is self-employed, a notice of assessment for a previous year is considered as part of the overall assessment of current income. While the income from the previous 12 months is a useful indicator to estimate the likely future income, it is not assumed that the same level of income will be generated in the succeeding year.
Further information may be required in addition to a notice of assessment, such as statements for any accounts held by the applicant and their spouse/civil partner/co-habitant in any financial institution. An individual’s particular situation and the prevailing economic environment can change from one year to the next and account is taken of the potential for significant downward or upward variations in income.
83. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Social Protection if rent supplement is payable to a person in receipt of the back to work self employment allowance; if not, the reason for same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51177/13]
View answerThe purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. The overall aim is to provide short term assistance, and not to act as an alternative to the other social housing schemes operated by the Exchequer. There are currently approximately 81,000 persons in receipt of rent supplement for which the Government has provided over €403 million in 2013. Where a person commences full-time employment, they normally no longer qualify for a rent supplement. However, if a person is participating on the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance scheme, they may continue to retain entitlement to rent supplement, subject to the means test, if they are deemed as eligible for the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS). The RAS gives local authorities specific responsibility for meeting the longer-term housing needs of people receiving rent supplement for 18 months or more. Details of these cases are notified regularly by my Department to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.
